Kombi: peace, love, hope

Kombi: peace, love, hope

07 September 2008Greg Kable

Trying to come up with ideas to boost sales in the big North American car market, the boss of VW asked staff to come up with some ideas for "lifestyle" vehicles. He was, apparently, inundated with suggestions to build a modern Kombi.

The Kombi became famous in the US in the free-loving 1960s and the van also found wide appeal in Europe and Australia.

This has improved the chances of the Kombi - or the Microbus (concept pictured), to give it the official name - making a comeback, because it could be sold worldwide, not just in the US, insiders say.

Volkswagen had planned to reintroduce a stylish recreation of the original Microbus in 2005 based on modifications to its T5 commercial vehicle. The new MPVT5 was to have been assembled exclusively at VW's Hanover commercial vehicle factory. However, spiralling costs and a weakening of the US currency eventually saw the project cancelled by the then Volkswagen boss Bernd Pischetsrieder.

But with new management in store for Wolfsburg (former Audi chief Martin Winterkorn is due to take over shortly), there appears to be renewed enthusiasm to see the Microbus reach production - although in a much more modified form than planned. One possibility is basing the car on the same front-drive platform as Volkswagen's new MSP (mid-sized sedan) project.

A cut-price, four-door sedan for the North American market, the MSP, is to be produced at VW's new $US1 billion ($1.2 billion) plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, from 2011.

A senior Volkswagen official revealed to Drive: "We're looking at ways to produce the Microbus that will make it competitive in North America. At the moment there is no firm decision but, with the exchange rate the way it is, there is no way we could entertain building it in Europe."

VW's earlier business case for the Microbus suggested up to 50 per cent of sales would come from North America. By assembling the proposed model in the US it would not only achieve favourable pricing in its potentially largest market but also improve profitability of versions of the MPV bound for Europe and other markets. Asked about the rumoured plan, the maker's US spokeswoman, Jill Bratina, confirmed VW was considering production of a second model in Chattanooga but stopped short of revealing more.

"Our Chattanooga plant will give us flexible production. In line with this flexibility, a second automobile in addition to a sedan specifically designed for the US is conceivable in the foreseeable future."